Red Raiders maintain spotless record

Texas Tech coach Kliff Kingsbury celebrates with Kenny Williams (34) following a touchdown run in the fourth quarter of their NCAA college football game against West Virginia in Morgantown, W.Va., on Saturday, Oct. 19, 2013. Texas Tech won 37-27.

Texas tech's Jace Amaro (22) carries the ball in after a catch for a touchdown as West Virginia's Daryl Worley (7) chases during the first quarter of an NCAA college football game in Morgantown, W.Va., on Saturday.

MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — Kliff Kingsbury doesn’t care what anyone thinks about how his team got to be 7-0. To the Texas Tech coach, it matters only that his team is 7-0 — and what the Red Raiders did Saturday to maintain their spotless record.

No. 16 Tech overcame an 11-point deficit with three touchdowns in the final 18 minutes and beat West Virginia 37-27 in front of a homecoming crowd at Milan Puskar Stadium. Kenny Williams capped two of the late drives with 1-yard touchdowns, and Davis Webb threw for 462 yards with two TD passes to Jace Amaro to help Tech start 7-0 for only the fourth time.

None of Tech’s opponents went into the week with a record better than .500, though, meaning plenty of people will say the Raiders are doing it against nobodies.

Tech didn’t have to wait until now for motivation. The Red Raiders were picked seventh in the Big 12. With the victory, and Texas’ being idle Saturday, they’re alone in first for now.

“Like I’ve said all along, they’re aware of where they were picked the beginning of the year,” Kingsbury said. “That doesn’t ever shy far from their minds. We’re still trying to prove to people that we’re not that bad.”

Tech (7-0, 4-0 in the Big 12) led 13-0 early, then got punched in the chin as West Virginia (3-4, 1-3) scored on five straight possessions to take charge 27-16. But the Tech defense tightened up in the fourth quarter, and Webb went to work on the comeback.

From the point Tech fell behind 27-16, Webb completed 16 of his last 23 passes for 208 yards, and the defense forced four punts and a turnover on downs.

Amaro had a big catch on each of the three late scoring drives. Ones for 32 and 37 yards moved Tech deep into West Virginia territory before Williams’ touchdowns. Then he caught a 10-yard touchdown with 1:01 left to put the game out of reach.

When the final seconds ticked off, linebacker Pete Robertson grabbed a flag with the Tech double-T to wave around the field and the Red Raiders had a spirited celebration with their cluster of fans tucked into the southeast corner of the stadium.

“We know nothing’s going to be easy in the Big 12,” cornerback Bruce Jones said, “but I love what we showed today, that our team can face adversity.”

Now comes the hard part with three ranked opponents in the final five games. That gauntlet starts with a game Saturday at Oklahoma, and Kingsbury knows how difficult that can be. He was Tech’s senior quarterback in 2002, when the Red Raiders lost a big late-season game, 60-15, in Norman.

Someone suggested the Red Raiders could win the Big 12 if they win at OU.

“I hope so. I was part of one that didn’t work out so well,” Kingsbury said. “We lost 112-7, and I know in 2008 the same situation (OU beating Tech 65-21). But that’s not how we’re approaching this. It’s still so early, a lot of things are going to shake out.”

West Virginia quarterback Clint Trickett finished with 254 yards and a touchdown on 27-for-43 passing, and running backs Dreamius Smith and Charles Sims gave Tech fits. Smith carried 16 times for 89 yards and two touchdowns, and Sims — a transfer who once played for Kingsbury at Houston — rushed for 77 yards and caught seven passes for 32 more, including a touchdown.

Each team scored on its first two possessions in a back-and-forth second half, though it was West Virginia that seized momentum after a 13-13 tie at halftime. The Mountaineers went up 27-16, sandwiching a Trickett touchdown pass to Sims and a 12-yard touchdown run by Smith around a Ryan Bustin field goal for Tech.

The West Virginia touchdowns capped drives of 74 and 72 yards.

Three plays before the first of those touchdowns, Tech safety Austin Stewart intercepted a pass Trickett floated over the middle. But cornerback Olaoluwa Falemi was flagged for interference on the intended receiver, wiping out the turnover.

Tech responded to the 27-16 deficit with an impressive 80-yard march that Williams finished by shoving in from the 1. The key play on the drive was a third-down, 32-yard catch by Amaro that took the Red Raiders to the WVU 11.

Before that, WVU had outscored Tech 27-3.

The Mountaineers made up the 13-0 gap in the last 12 minutes of the first half with the help of two fumbles.

A drive that included a pass interference penalty on Falemi on third-and-6 ended with a Josh Lambert field goal that made it 13-3. However, Tech had a shot to make it 20-3 when Webb spotted an open lane up the middle from the West Virginia 13.

He dashed to the 1, where he pinballed off two tacklers and lost the ball.

Linebacker Isaiah Bruce recovered, and the Mountaineers took off on a 99-yard drive. A 40-yard pass to Kevin White on third-and-14 got West Virginia to midfield, and Smith went 38 yards off the right side, pulling the Mountaineers within 13-10.

Stewart fumbled the ensuing kickoff, and Lambert cashed that into a short field goal just before time ran out in the half.

The fumble by Webb proved to be a turning point.

“I was mad,” Kingsbury said. “That one I was mad, because we talk about sliding all the time. He’s not the most nimble guy to try and jump in the end zone. He said, ‘I’ve got ya, coach. I’ll make up for it.”

Before the fumble, the Red Raiders had scored three possessions in a row, though they were stung by settling for field goals. A 10-yard pass from Webb to Amaro gave Tech a 7-0 lead, and then Bustin kicked field goals from 21 and 36 yards.

The Red Raiders settled for the first field goal after having first-and-goal from the 4 and took the second after failing to convert third-and-1 from the 15.

Much like last week, when Tech beat Iowa State 42-35, the Red Raiders had dominant stretches in the first half and went in tied. Which could have had Kingsbury pulling his hair out.

“Yeah, I was internally,” he said, “but you can’t show that. I thought we had a chance to go up 20-3 and then all of a sudden it just flipped. We just said, ‘It’s 0-0, same situation as last week. Go win this half.’ And our guys responded.”

ADVISORY: Users are solely responsible for opinions they post here and for
following agreed-upon rules of civility. Posts and
comments do not reflect the views of this site. Posts and comments are
automatically checked for inappropriate language, but readers might find some
comments offensive or inaccurate. If you believe a comment violates our rules,
click the "Flag as offensive" link below the comment.

I've often heard that there are two types of players, those that know how to win, and those that don't....while this season may not be pretty, we're 7-0 with a lot of youth. These boys know how to win and I'm excited to see the future of this program! Good job today boys!

Prior Tech teams choke and lose that game, most picked us to get upset today and then fade off into the sunset (some had us fading after Iowa State, no-one believes Tech can keep it up). This is Kingsbury's Red Raiders, a new era, a new attitude. Let' hope we can get on a roll, timing is everything. Congratulations guys for hanging tough and refusing to die! Wreck'm Tech!

Will Tech beat anyone this year with a winning record? Answer in about a week. How lucky are the Big 12 schools that Mizzou, Nebraska, and A&M left! Just how weak is the Big 12 is this year; why else is Tech 7-0. Will anyone at Tech buy Goober some razor blades so he doesn't look like one of those hicks from West Va. Will Amaro continue on the team or will he punch someone out or find a credit card laying on the sidewalk that is not his. With Tech's 2014 "preseason" schedule, will they relent to play Wayland Baptist so they can cash in on $450G in 2015. Stay tuned, answers will come..........

"How lucky are the Big 12 schools that Mizzou, Nebraska, and A&M left!" Seriously, how many Big12 titles did those three teams have before leaving? Two or three?

Nebraska has only played one above average team and lost at home by 21 points. The last three times we played Nebraska we beat them. Nebraska is not even ranked, though they probably will be again after a bye week. ATM beat us the last three but Tech had won something like 8 of the previous 10. They are nothing without JM. Missouri has sucked since leaving the Big12 until this year. This year they have beaten overrated Florida and Georgia. Those teams won't even be in the top 20 after this week. The SEC is overrated, especially the SEC East.

Tennessee lost to Oregon by 45 points but beat South Carolina and lost to Georgia by 3.

Now I know that the competition has not been very stout this year with the exception of a ranked TCU team. Regardless you can't coast your way into 7-0. Tech might not go to a national chsmpionship game this year but I think we should be excited about the future.

Until Kliff gets a couple of recruiting classes. Why would anyone recruit want to play at TCU before 25,000 fans and get screamed at by Gary Patterson for an entire day? Or Baylor's 30,000 tarp fans and the new stadium built on a stagnant brown Brazos River (hold your nose all day from the Brazos smell).

1. I assume you are referring to the Nebraska program that stopped winning games in the Big 12 when the NCAA got serious about steroids. Last seen, they have 4 straight losses to Tech including a little sixty (60) point loss in Lubbock. That Nebraska?

2. I assume you are referring to the Texas A&M program that lost 8 out of 9 to Mike Leach during one run. That Texas A&M?

3. I assume you are referring to the Missouri program that when last seen in Lubbock with their all world QB Gabbert got drilled. That Missouri?

We are 7-0 and that's great! Of course we have only beaten the same teams we beat under Tubberville's reign, but we have done it with better defense so that gives you the hope we have a chance to run the table. Anything is possible when the whole RED RAIDER NATION is supporting the team!! By the way, why wasn't targeting called on the head shot to Webb when he fumbled on the 1 yard line. Was I the only one who saw the WV player launch himself and go helmet to helmet? Just wondering.

Alright Wichita, in the past I thought you were just an moron since you never have anything intelligent to add. Now I see you are just like the 19 year old teen, covered with tats and a bone through the nose, looking for a reaction. Why else would you bring such clueless quips? Pity

You forget to mention Leach in your list of guys we have survived. He almost single-handedly bought down our program with his classless ways. Look at all the friends he making out west. He will be watching bowls, not going.